A sunken ancient ship with treasures was found at the bottom of Ladoga (10 photos)

The team of the 1XPEDITION research project found a sunken Finnish ship at the bottom of Lake Ladoga.





The ship from the late 19th early 20th century was at a depth of 34 meters. It sank, most likely due to an explosion inside the ship. The shock wave blew away the wheelhouse, and on the deck there is a binnacle (the box in which the ship's compass is located), a telegraph and a steering wheel.

— Swimming into the hold, I saw a ceramic cup, lifted the tabletop, and there were several more. I picked one of them up to look at it. Conventional pottery was probably made on a potter's wheel, with a layer of silt at the bottom. I tried to rinse the cup, shook it and saw at the bottom pebbles, soft white in color with a pearlescent sheen, the size of peas, only not round, but oblong, even oval. These are probably pearls, experts will definitely say, said 1XPEDITION diver Oleg Shabunya.







A clearly visible symbol is painted on both sides of the ship - “Leviathan”. It is believed to symbolize power, strength and unbridled nature.

“That led us to believe that it might be a pirate ship.” Why would passenger or merchant ships have on their sides images of a monster associated with death? It was believed that not a single weapon could cope with this creature, and it was simply impossible to catch or subdue Leviathan,” shared Sergei Kulikov, coordinator of the 1XPEDITION center.





On the sunken ship, divers managed to find a ship's bell, several ceramic vessels, a porcelain washbasin, elements of ship decor, a telegraph and bricks from a fireplace with the inscriptions - HOGANAS.





— An uncommon type of refractory sand-lime brick produced in the south of Sweden in the village of HOGANAS in the province of Skane, located 20 km from Helsingborg. Thanks to the combined deposits of coal and clay, the production of bricks and ceramics began in 1832. The Grand Duchy of Finland did not have a customs border with Europe and it was easier and cheaper to bring bricks from Sweden. — shared Pavel Ilatovsky, a member of the local history club from Pitkyaranta.

The treasures found, photos and videos will be sent to the underwater heritage center of the Institute of Archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences for further study. Later, scientists will be able to tell more about the history of this mysterious ship.